The Isles of summer; or, Nassau and the Bahamas .. . eanwaters drawn off, we should have, in place of this island system,the Bahama and Caribbean mountains, a lofty range, elevatedthousands of feet above the neighboring plains and valleys,towering high up in the air as they now do in the water, Avithlarge areas of high table land. The location of the islands to thewindward of the banks has favored the formation and growth ofthe latter. The Bahama group rises out of several submerged tables of asoft calcareous rock, the two largest of which arc known respec-tively as the Great and Little Bahama
The Isles of summer; or, Nassau and the Bahamas .. . eanwaters drawn off, we should have, in place of this island system,the Bahama and Caribbean mountains, a lofty range, elevatedthousands of feet above the neighboring plains and valleys,towering high up in the air as they now do in the water, Avithlarge areas of high table land. The location of the islands to thewindward of the banks has favored the formation and growth ofthe latter. The Bahama group rises out of several submerged tables of asoft calcareous rock, the two largest of which arc known respec-tively as the Great and Little Bahama Banks. The water uponthese banks attains a maximum depth of several liundred Little Bank is the most northerly, and is only seventy milesfrom the coast of Florida. It embraces a superficial area of5,5G0 square miles, including 1,200 square miles of islands, andhas a breadth of from thirty-five to sixty miles. Its principalislands are Great and Little Abaco and Grand Bahama. Tlietwo former are separated from each other by a narrow THE BAHAMAS. 33 and witli their numerous keys extend along the eastern edge ofthe Little Bahama Bank for nearly a hundred miles. At thesoutherly extremity of Ahaco is the famous Hole-in-the-Vvall—a large opening through and helow the top of a ridge of calca-reous rock. Also a light house bearing the same name. A ladyinformed us that several years since, while sailing past Abaco,she saw the sun at its setting through this Hole-in-the-Wall,and that the globe of fire, in its setting of rock, left an indeliblepicture of rare and exquisite beauty upon her memory. The north-west and north-east Providence Channels separatethe Little from the Great Bahama Bank. The distance betweenthe Banks varies from fifteen to forty-five miles. The north-east Providence Channel separates Abaco fromthe island of Eleuthera and the keys on its northern shore, whichlie twenty-seven miles to the south-east of the Hole-in-the-Wall. The whole of the trade fro
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidislesofsummerorn00ives
